Rep. Michael Ferguson (R) Elected 2000, 3d term
Born:	July 22, 1970, Ridgewood
Home:	Warren
Education:	U. of Notre Dame, B.S. 1992, Georgetown U., M.P.P. 1994
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Maureen Malloy)
Professional Career:	H.S. teacher, Mount St. Michael Acad., 1992-93; Exec. Dir., Better Schools Fndt., 1994; Dir., Save Our Schoolchildren, 1994; Exec. Dir., Catholic Campaign for America, 1995-97; Adjunct Prof., Brookdale Com. Col., 1997-2000; Founder & Pres., Strategic Educ. Initiatives, 1997-present.
DC Office	214 CHOB20515, 202-225-5361; Fax: 202-225-9460; Web site: www.house.gov/ferguson
State Offices	Warren, 908-757-7835.
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The transportation arteries beneath the curve of the First Watchung Mountain are one of New Jersey's historic lines of development. The rail lines of the late 19th century opened up commuter suburbs; in the 1940s the four lanes of U.S. 22 created an automobile civilization; and finally I-78, completed in the mid-1980s, put Newark only an hour's distance from the Pennsylvania line. Interstate 78 stimulated the development of an Edge City called Bridgewater Commons--halfway between Philadelphia and Manhattan--where an enormous shopping mall and office developments that included the headquarters of AT&T rose up amid horse country around Far Hills and Bernardsville, where the likes of Malcolm Forbes and Charles Engelhard owned huge estates in horse country (New Jersey claims more horses per square mile than any other state). These are in Somerset County, the nation's number one county in per capita income.

The 7th Congressional District of New Jersey, with its contorted boundaries, covers these several generations of suburban development. It ranges across the breadth of the state, from the edge of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley in the west almost to Staten Island in the east. It is an agglomeration of places, some of affluence, not a district with a distinct character--the 7th includes parts of four counties, and parts of places such as Edison, Woodbridge, Bridgewater, Linden and Union. Its easternmost points are in Union County, just shy of Newark International Airport. It includes Summit, Scotch Plains and North and South Plainfield, but not heavily Democratic Plainfield. It follows I-78 and the Watchung Mountains far into the countryside; it includes western Somerset County and most of fast-growing Hunterdon County, where the county seat of Flemington was the site of the "trial of the century" for the kidnapping and murder of the 20-month-old son of Charles Lindbergh. There is, of course, a political imperative for the weird shape of the district: The 7th was designed as part of the bipartisan incumbents' plan to put heavily Democratic areas in the adjacent 12th, 6th and 10th Districts while moving Republican areas formerly in those districts, to this one. As a result, the Bush 2000 percentage in the 7th rose from 43% to 49%--the biggest partisan change in any New Jersey district.

The congressman from the 7th District is Michael Ferguson, a Republican first elected in 2000. He grew up in Ridgewood, in Bergen County; after graduating from Notre Dame, he taught history as an unpaid volunteer and coached basketball at Mount St. Michael Academy in the Bronx. He served as executive director of the Catholic Campaign for America and of the Better Schools Foundation in Washington; during that time, he focused on education issues while earning a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown. He returned to New Jersey to found Strategic Education Initiatives, an education consulting firm, and became an ally of Jersey City's Republican mayor Bret Schundler and a backer of school choice. In 1998, Ferguson challenged Frank Pallone in the 6th District, spending $1 million but losing 57%-40%.

When Bob Franks decided to give up the neighboring 7th District seat to run for the Senate in 2000, Ferguson moved to the district and entered the contest. He faced serious opposition in the primary. Ferguson raised the most money and focused on fiscal issues, but Tom Kean Jr., son of the popular former governor, had the highest name recognition and the most early endorsements; State Assemblyman Joel Weingarten suffered from votes to raise taxes. Ferguson focused on cutting taxes and won with 41% of the vote, to 28% for Kean and 23% for Weingarten. In the general, Ferguson faced Fanwood Mayor Maryanne Connelly, who in 1998 lost to Franks by 53%-44%. Ferguson barely mentioned his conservative views--for school prayer and a constitutional amendment banning abortion--but emphasized his centrist positions on the environment and health care. His centerpiece issue was education: He strongly backed school vouchers and urged increased accountability for public schools. Against the 55-year-old Connelly, a widow without children, Ferguson highlighted his youthfulness and two children. Ferguson won 52%-46%, running about even in the older suburbs and carrying the newer suburbs by wide margins. In 2003, the Federal Election Commission ordered him to pay a $210,000 fine for making an improper loan to himself from a trust created by his parents during the 2000 campaign.

In the House, Ferguson has been near the center on economic and cultural issues but more conservative on defense. He voted against oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge but voted for the Bush tax cuts, trade promotion authority, and authorization for war in Iraq. With a much-sought seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, he appealed to constituent interests by supporting an overhaul of telecommunications laws. He was under greater pressure to show party loyalty, but he continued to display occasional independence, as with his procedural vote to bar the Bush administration from implementing new overtime pay regulations for workers.

Ferguson's voting record plus the redistricting changes strengthened him at home. But Democrats are reluctant to remove him from their top tier of targets. In 2002, against financier Tim Carden, who raised nearly $1 million, Ferguson raised more than twice that and won 58-41%. Two years later, his Democratic challenger Stephen Brozak also spent a bit short of $1 million; he ran on his service as an Iraq war veteran and sought to make the Bush administration's handling of the war his central issue. Ferguson emphasized tax cuts and support for the troops in Iraq. National Democrats sought to highlight Brozak's candidacy by giving him a speaking slot at the national convention in Boston. But the first-time candidate's campaign skills were disappointing and national Democrats lost enthusiasm. Ferguson won 57%-42%, almost the same as his 2002 margin. He lost Woodbridge, Edison and North Plainfield and carried almost all the other cities and towns in the district, winning 61% in Somerset County and 65% in Hunterdon County. Ferguson has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Senate.

Committees

• Energy & Commerce (24th of 31 R): Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection; Health; Oversight & Investigations; Telecommunications & the Internet.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	30	5	25	45	89	48	95	67	78	100	--
2003	0	--	13	30	--	62	90	80	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	41%	--	59%		47%	--	53%
Social	36%	--	63%		44%	--	55%
Foreign	36%	--	64%		34%	--	63%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. Y 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Michael Ferguson (R)	162,597	57%	$2,847,822
	Steve Brozak (D)	119,081	42%	$792,575
	Other	4,169	1%
2004 primary	Michael Ferguson (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Michael Ferguson (R)	106,055	58%	$2,089,022
	Tim Carden (D)	74,879	41%	$948,467
	Other	2,068	1%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (52%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 164,176 (53%) Kerry (D) 144,767 (47%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 127,702 (49%) Gore (D) 124,699 (48%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Seventh District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 1
• District Size: 603 square miles
• Population in 2000: 647,257; 90.4% urban; 9.6% rural
• Median Household Income: $74,823; 3.4% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 15.7% blue collar; 74.5% white collar; 9.8% gray collar; 10.6% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 79.0% White, 4.4% Black, 8.2% Asian, 0.1% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.2% Two+ races, 0.2% Other, 6.9% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 15.3% Italian, 13.0% Irish, 11.7% German
• Click here for statewide demographic data.